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It was announced Thursday that the Chicago Bears would be the featured team on HBO and NFL Films' production of “Hard Knocks” as they will cover them throughout training camp until the start of the season. There's no doubt that one of the main reasons for the decision to cover the team is because they have first round pick Caleb Williams to focus on, but former general manger Mike Tannebaum feels as if the Bears should have passed on the opportunity.
Tannebaum was on “The Dan Patrick Show” where he was talking about the amount of pressure being put on Williams and taking Chicago to the playoffs in his rookie season. He would even say that if he was the decision maker, he would not have taken part of “Hard Knocks” this year so not too many eyes are on the USC Trojan.
“Look the bottom line is you're the quarterback of the Chicago Bears, you're like beyond Barack Obama,” Tannebaum said. “You’re the most important person from the state of Illinois for the foreseeable future and that's going to take some time. Like Dan, look at you, you're a Hall of Fame broadcaster, you're a hell of a lot better today than you were in the formative years of your career. There's just, you gotta put your time in, and if I was the Bears, I would have kicked and scream and said, hey we don't mind doing Hard Knocks but not this year, let this kid grow let him develop, let him you know again make some mistakes without the eyes of the whole world seeing it.”
While Tannebaum has his concerns, Bears are excited for “Hard Knocks”
Whether you agree with Tannebaum or not, it's a given that Williams has a lot of the media attention since he is considered one of the most talented prospects coming out of college, some even comparing him to Kansas City Chiefs superstar Patrick Mahomes. Either way, the Bears themselves are excited for the spotlight on the show as team president Kevin Warren shared his thoughts in a statement via the team's website when the news was announced.
“Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Chicago Bears will provide our passionate fans across the world the ability to experience this unique and critical time in the history of our franchise,” Warren said.
Williams will be the first rookie quarterback No. 1 overall pick to be featured on “Hard Knocks” since 2018 when the show centered around the Cleveland Browns and Baker Mayfield. Even though the Bears are widely considered an iconic franchise, this will be the first time the organization has been on the show.
“We are honored to feature such an iconic NFL franchise on ‘Hard Knocks,'” NFL Films Senior Director and Supervising Producer Shannon Furman said. “The Chicago Bears have a talented roster, coaching staff and front office all determined to match the expectations of a hungry fanbase. We are thankful to the entire organization for opening their doors to us for what is sure to be an exciting training camp this summer.”
Bears general manager stresses significance of training camp
The Bears will be one of several teams focused on the show as besides the traditional training camp one, they will have an off-season program with the New York Giants, and a in-season one where it will focus on four teams in a division. Chicago general manager Ryan Poles expressed the significance of training camp and how he will “look forward” to the fans seeing that aspect.
“The 2024 training camp will be big for us in preparation for achieving our season goals and we look forward to bringing the fans at home along for the journey,” Poles said.
As for Bears head coach Matt Eberflus who was featured on the show before as the defensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts in-season edition in 2021, he said “Our players, coaches and staff are excited to continue the process of building for the 2024 season.” Going into his third season at the helm, his No. 1 job will be to put Williams in the best position possible.
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Williams' talent is “extraordinary” heading into rookie season
He and the front office has done that and more as they drafted talented receiver Rome Odunze in the first round and acquired star skill position players in Keenan Allen and D'Andre Swift. Besides the talent around him, Williams has been getting the praise of mostly everybody, especially former quarterback Chris Simms as he touted him on his podcast “Unbuttoned.”
“I look at him as being a natural, being a ‘Chosen One’ type of guy,” Simms said. “He’s been in an offense in his college career where it was on his shoulders and he was asked to read the field and check and do things at the line of scrimmage. He’s very mature for a quarterback, as far as the play is concerned.”
“His physical talent is extraordinary. Extraordinary. I also think he has the mentality and the maturity to handle Chicago and handle the new offensive situation,” Simms continued. “I know it might not be perfect in Week 1 or 2, but I’m betting more in Week 5 or 6 that– like we saw with C.J. Stroud last year– we’re going to be going ‘Holy crap, Caleb Williams.”
Huge season incoming for Williams and Chicago?
Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron spoke earlier in the offseason about how he expects Williams' progression to be easy from college to the NFL.
“I think the one thing Caleb has shown is that he can be in all sorts of backfield alignments,” Waldron said. “He did a great job at his pro day, he’s played quarterback his whole life, so I think the biggest thing will be just the footwork and really mastering that first step from under center, something that he’s taken pride in already and really gotten a jump on in this rookie minicamp. But he’s played the position his whole life, just like these other guys have, so I think there’s a good, natural transition. It wasn’t something where Caleb was starting from total scratch with the drops and his footwork.”
In any sense, the Bears have some lofty expectations heading into next season, even if some like Tannebaum feel as if the pressure is not valid since the team has not been established yet as a threat in the NFC at the moment. They are looking to improve after a 7-10 record last year where they were last in the NFC North as they start the upcoming season at home against the Tennessee Titans on Sept. 8.
The Bears edition of “Hard Knocks” will premiere its first episode on Tuesday, August 6.
